The present disclosure relates to a slide rail assembly including a fixed rail and a movable rail; and an image forming apparatus with the slide rail assembly.
Image forming apparatuses, such as printers, copiers, and facsimile machines, include those in which a portion of the apparatus body or a unit housed in the apparatus body can be pulled horizontally outward. For example, there is known an image forming apparatus configured so that a sheet conveyance unit assembled integrally on one sidewall of the apparatus body can be pulled outwardly from the apparatus body. In this case, a slide rail assembly is applied to the unit in order to facilitate the outward pulling and subsequent fitting back of the unit. The slide rail assembly includes a fixed rail and a movable rail. The fixed rail and the movable rail are mounted to the apparatus body and the unit, respectively. Generally, the movable rail is held by a ball retainer movable within the fixed rail.
The range of sliding movement of the movable rail, i.e., the range in which the movable rail can be slid out from the fixed rail, is restricted by a stopper. However, during maintenance or the like, the stopper may be removed and the unit may be fully separated from the apparatus body. In doing so, the movable rail is also removed from the ball retainer and separated, together with the unit, from the apparatus body. In reassembling the unit into the apparatus body after the end of the maintenance work or the like, the movable rail is inserted into the ball retainer. At this time, however, since the ball retainer is free to move relative to the fixed rail, the ball retainer is often located behind an apparatus body plane from which the unit is pulled outwardly. In this case, the movable rail may not be able to be easily reassembled to the ball retainer.
For example, a slide rail assembly is known in which a support member is provided at the distal end of the fixed rail in order to facilitate the reassembly of the separated movable rail to the fixed rail. However, the placement of the support member leads to constant frictional contact of the support member with the movable rail, which impedes smooth pulling of the unit. In other words, an operational feeling of smooth sliding intrinsic to the ball retainer is impaired.